Stuck And Thinkin'

If there weren't Winter Storm Advisories all over the state of Utah, I would arriving home in the next hour or so. Instead, I'm playing on the internets in a coffee shop in St. George, UT and waiting for the road conditions to improve. The routine of checking Facebook, Weather, Gmail, Facebook, Weather, Gmail is starting to get old... SO, I thought I might compose a quick post about someone that I met in Joshua Tree the other day.

When I was first introduced to John Copp he gave me a hug instead of shaking my hand.

John was a accompanied by a 30 something year old man and when John explained that he was "Jonny's childhood friend Ryan" it all clicked... John was the father of the late Jonny Copp.

Jonny Copp was killed in an avalanche, along with Micah Dash, and Wade Johnson, while climbing in China this past summer. The tragic loss rocked the climbing community to the core.

That evening John's mid eighties motorhome slumped around campsite 25 in Hidden Valley Campground with all of us piled inside. We drank beer, ate brownies and listened to John tell heartfelt stories about his son.

The next morning John and Ryan quickly planned out where to go climbing with Christo and Kelly (both good friends of Jonny's.) They settled on the Eye of the Cyclops and John asked me if I would like to join their little adventure. I politely declined as I could somehow sense that I wasn't supposed to be climbing with them that morning... I made a little perch on my boulder pad next to the motorhome as the 4 marched off toward their route. An hour or so later I could see them all standing at the top of the formation and they hung around for a long while before descending the backside.

When John made it back to the site he had a soft smile on his face and said that they had spread Jonny's ashes on the top of the windy formation and described it as being "beautiful."

Although I never met Jonny Copp I can safely say that he was a great man and I now understand why he was loved by everyone who met him. There's that saying: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. With the Copp's, it couldn't be more true.